The Wiggles are a children's musical group formed in Sydney, Australia in 1991. Their original members were Anthony Field, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Jeff Fatt. In 2006, Page was forced to retire from the group due to illness and was replaced by understudy Sam Moran. As a result of their background, the group combines music and theories of child development in their videos, television programs, and live shows. The group has franchised their concepts to other countries, developed Wiggles sections in amusement parks in Australia and the US, and won several recording industry awards. The Wiggles have been called "the world's biggest preschool band" and "your child's first rock band". The group has achieved worldwide success with their children's albums, videos, television series, and concert appearances. The Wiggles were named Business Review Weekly's top-earning Australian entertainers for three years in a row and earned $A50 million in 2006. They have earned seventeen gold, twelve platinum, three double-platinum, and ten multi-platinum awards for sales of over 17 million DVDs and four million CDs. By 2002, The Wiggles had become the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC's) most successful pre-school television program.
July 2008 Archives
Nuthatch is a genus, Sitta, of small passerine birds belonging to the family Sittidae. Characterised by large heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet, nuthatches advertise their territory using loud, simple songs. Most species exhibit grey or bluish upperparts and a black eye stripe. Most nuthatches breed in the temperate or montane woodlands of the Northern Hemisphere, although two species have adapted to rocky habitats in the warmer and drier regions of Eurasia. The greatest diversity is in southern Asia and similarities between the species have made it difficult to identify distinct species. All members of this genus nest in holes or crevices. Most species are non-migratory and live in their habitat year-round, but the North American Red-breasted Nuthatch migrates to warmer regions during the winter. A few nuthatch species have restricted ranges and face threats from deforestation. Nuthatches are omnivorous, eating mostly insects, nuts and seeds. They forage for insects hidden in or under bark by climbing along tree trunks and branches, sometimes upside down. They forage within their territories when breeding, but may join mixed feeding flocks at other times. Their habit of wedging a large food item in a crevice and then hacking at it with their strong bills gives this group its English name.
The Glorious First of June (also known as the Third Battle of Ushant, and in France as the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2 or Combat de Prairial)[2] was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. The British Channel Fleet under Lord Howe attempted to interdict the passage of a vitally important French grain convoy from the United States, which was protected by the French Atlantic Fleet, commanded by Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse. The two forces clashed in the Atlantic Ocean, some 400 nautical miles (741 km) west of the French island of Ushant.
The action was the culmination of a campaign that had criss-crossed the Bay of Biscay over the previous month. Both sides had captured numerous merchant ships and minor warships and had engaged in two partial, but inconclusive, fleet actions. The aftermath of 1 June 1794 left both fleets shattered and in no condition for further combat. Despite losing seven ships of the line, Villaret bought enough time for the French grain convoy to reach safety. However, he was also forced to withdraw his battle-fleet to port, leaving the British free to conduct a campaign of blockade for the remainder of the war. Both sides claimed victory. The result of the battle was seized upon by the press of both nations as a shining example of the prowess and bravery of their respective navies.
The Glorious First of June demonstrated some of the major problems inherent in the French and British navies at the start of the Revolutionary Wars--both admirals, faced with disobedience from their captains and ill-discipline and poor training among their crews, failed to control their fleets effectively. Both fleets suffered further from a shortage of crewmen and reliable officers.
The history of Solidarity, a Polish non-governmental trade union, began in August 1980 at the Gdańsk Shipyards where Lech Wałęsa and others formed Solidarity. In the early 1980s, it became the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country. Solidarity gave rise to a broad anti-communist nonviolent social movement that, at its height, united some 10 million members and vastly contributed to the fall of communism. Poland's communist government attempted to destroy the union by instituting martial law in 1981, followed by several years of political repression, but in the end was forced to begin negotiating with the union. The Roundtable Talks between the weakened government and the Solidarity-led opposition resulted in semi-free elections in 1989. By the end of August 1989, a Solidarity-led coalition government had been formed, and, in December 1990, Wałęsa was elected president. This was soon followed by the dismantling of the communist governmental system and by Poland's transformation into a modern democratic state. Solidarity's example led to the spread of anti-communist ideas and movements throughout the countries of the Eastern Bloc, weakening their communist governments; a process that eventually culminated in the Revolutions of 1989 (the "Autumn of Nations").
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian writer who has been called the "noir prophet" of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction.In 1982, Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" and popularized the concept in his debut novel, Neuromancer (1984). By visualising cyberspace as a worldwide communications network, Gibson foresaw the World Wide Web and created an iconography for the information age long before the spread of the Internet in the 1990s. He is also credited with predicting the rise of reality television and with establishing the conceptual foundations for the rapid growth of virtual environments such as videogames and the Web.
Having moved around frequently with his family as a child, Gibson grew to be a shy, ungainly teenager who took refuge in reading science fiction. After spending his adolescence at a private boarding school in Arizona, Gibson dodged the draft during the Vietnam War by emigrating to Canada in 1967, where he became immersed in counterculture and after settling in Vancouver eventually became a full-time writer. He retains dual citizenship.Gibson's early works are bleak, noir near-future stories about the effect of cybernetics and computer networks on humans - "lowlife meets high tech".The short stories were published in leading science fiction magazines and eventually revived science fiction, which at the time was widely considered insignificant. The themes, settings and characters developed in these stories culminated in his first novel, Neuromancer, which garnered critical and commercial success, virtually launching the cyberpunk literary movement.
Although much of Gibson's reputation has remained rooted in Neuromancer, his work has continued to evolve in style and concept. After expanding on Neuromancer with two more novels to complete the dystopic Sprawl trilogy, Gibson became a central figure to an entirely different science fiction sub-genre--steampunk--with the 1990 alternate history novel The Difference Engine, written with Bruce Sterling. In the 1990s he composed the Bridge trilogy of novels, which made sociological observations of near-future urban environments and late capitalism. His most recent novels--Pattern Recognition (2003) and Spook Country (2007)--are set in a contemporary world and have put Gibson's work onto mainstream bestseller lists for the first time.
Gibson is one of the most highly acclaimed North American science fiction writers,fêted by The Guardian in 1999 as "probably the most important novelist of the past two decades". Gibson has written more than twenty short stories, nine critically acclaimed novels (one in collaboration), and a nonfiction artist's book, and has contributed articles to several major publications and collaborated extensively with performance artists, filmmakers and musicians. His thought has been cited as an influence on science fiction authors, design, academia, cyberculture, and technology.
We're not sure what the long-term implications of the Yahoo-Yang-Icahn settlement will be. In the short term, though, the agreement that ended the impending proxy fight appears to have inspired Jerry Yang to use capital letters in his memos to employees.
Here's the full text of Jerry Yang's take on the Icahn affair.
Today, Yahoo! moves past a distracting proxy contest. This morning we announced a settlement with Carl Icahn which will enable Yahoo! to put an end to this challenging chapter in our history, and allow us to get back to the business at hand - building our business and maximizing value for all stockholders.
Over the past few weeks we've made progress communicating with investors, helping them to better understand our roadmap for long-term growth, our valuable combination of assets, and our solid position in the converging search and display marketplaces. These discussions have been productive for everyone.
Under the terms of the settlement with Mr. Icahn, he has withdrawn his nominees for consideration at the annual meeting, and has agreed to vote his Yahoo! shares in support of the Board's nominees. At our annual stockholder meeting on Aug. 1, we'll ask stockholders to re-elect eight of our current directors. (In connection with the settlement of the proxy contest, Bobby Kotick has notified the Company that he will not stand for re-election to the Board.) After the annual meeting, Mr. Icahn will be appointed to our Board. We've also agreed to expand our Board to make room for two additional members to be chosen by the Board upon the recommendation of the Board's Nominating and Governance Committee from a list that includes the rest of Mr. Icahn's slate and Jon Miller, former Chairman and CEO of AOL.
We're pleased that both parties were able to work together productively to accomplish this settlement, and we look forward to working with the new Board members and benefiting from their fresh perspective.
Yahoo! is now moving forward with one team and one voice, and we're excited about what the future holds.
Jerry Yang
CEO and Chief Yahoo
Exmoor is a National Park situated on the Bristol Channel coast of South West England. The park straddles two counties, with 71% in Somerset and 29% located in Devon. The total area of the park, which includes the Brendon Hills and the Vale of Porlock, covers 267 square miles (692 km²) of hilly open moorland, and includes 34 miles (55 km) of coast. It is primarily an upland area with a dispersed population living mainly in small villages and hamlets. The three largest settlements are Porlock and Dulverton, and the combined villages of Lynton and Lynmouth, connected by the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway, which together contain almost 40% of the National Park population. Prior to being a park, Exmoor was a Royal Forest and hunting ground, which was sold off in 1818. Exmoor was one of the first British National Parks, designated in 1954, under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, and is named after its main river, the River Exe. Several areas of the moor have been declared a Site of Special Scientific interest due to the flora and fauna, which have some legal protection from development, damage, and neglect. In 1993 Exmoor was designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Area.
The S.S. Christopher Columbus was an American excursion liner on the Great Lakes, in service between 1893 and 1933. She was the only whaleback ship ever built for passenger service. The ship was designed by Alexander McDougall, the developer and promoter of the whaleback design.
Columbus was built between 1892 and 1893 at Superior, Wisconsin, by the American Steel Barge Company. Initially, she ferried passengers to and from the World's Columbian Exposition. Later, she provided general transportation and excursion services to various ports around the lakes.
At 362 feet (110 m), the ship was the longest whaleback ever built, and reportedly also the largest vessel on the Great Lakes when she was launched. Columbus is said to have carried more passengers during her career than any other vessel on the Great Lakes. After a career lasting four decades, she was retired during the Great Depression and scrapped in 1936 by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
Jay Chou (traditional Chinese: 周杰倫; simplified Chinese: 周杰伦;) (born January 18, 1979) is a Taiwanese musician, singer, producer, actor and director who has won a World Music Award. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for popular Chinese singers. Although he was trained in classical music, Chou combines Chinese and Western music styles to produce songs that fuse R&B, rock and pop genres, covering issues such as domestic violence, war, and urbanization.
In 2000 Chou released his first album, titled Jay, under the record company Alfa Music. Since then he has released one album per year, selling several million copies each. His music has gained recognition throughout Asia, most notably in regions such as Mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, and in overseas Chinese communities, winning more than 20 awards each year. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. In 2007, he was named one of the 50 most influential people in China by the British think tank Chatham House. He starred in Initial D (2005), for which he won Best Newcomer Actor in Golden Horse Awards, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). His career now extends into directing and running his own record company JVR Music.
In 2000 Chou released his first album, titled Jay, under the record company Alfa Music. Since then he has released one album per year, selling several million copies each. His music has gained recognition throughout Asia, most notably in regions such as Mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, and in overseas Chinese communities, winning more than 20 awards each year. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. In 2007, he was named one of the 50 most influential people in China by the British think tank Chatham House. He starred in Initial D (2005), for which he won Best Newcomer Actor in Golden Horse Awards, and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor by Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). His career now extends into directing and running his own record company JVR Music.
The Power of Nightmares is a BBC documentary film series, written and produced by Adam Curtis. The series consists of three one-hour films, consisting mostly of a montage of archive footage with Curtis's narration, which were first broadcast in the United Kingdom in late 2004 and have been subsequently aired in multiple countries and shown in several film festivals, including the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. The films compare the rise of the American Neo-Conservative movement and the radical Islamist movement, making comparisons on their origins and noting strong similarities between the two. More controversially, it argues that the threat of radical Islamism as a massive, sinister organised force of destruction, specifically in the form of al-Qaeda, is in fact a myth perpetrated by politicians in many countries--and particularly American Neo-Conservatives--in an attempt to unite and inspire their people following the failure of earlier, more utopian ideologies. The Power of Nightmares has been praised by film critics in both Britain and the United States. Its message and content have also been the subject of various critiques and criticisms from conservatives and progressives.
The participation of Puerto Ricans in World War II as members of the United States armed forces included guarding U.S. military installations in the Caribbean and active combat participation in both the European and Pacific theatres of the war. Puerto Ricans had obtained U.S. citizenship as a result of the 1917 Jones-Shafroth Act and were expected to serve in the military. During World War II, more than 53,000 Puerto Ricans served in the U.S. military. Soldiers from the island served in either the 65th Infantry Regiment or the Puerto Rican National Guard. Those who resided in the mainland of the United States were assigned to regular units of the military. They were often subject to the racial discrimination that was widespread in the United States at the time. Puerto Rican women who served had their options restricted to nursing or administrative positions. In World War II some of the island's men played active roles as commanders in the military. The military did not keep statistics in regard to the total number of Hispanics who served in the regular units of the Armed Forces, only of those who served in Puerto Rican units; therefore, it is impossible to determine the exact number of Puerto Ricans who served in World War II.
Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series. The game's development was a result of collaboration between RedOctane and Harmonix to bring a GuitarFreaks-like game to North America. The game features a guitar-shaped controller (resembling a miniature Gibson SG) that the player uses to simulate the playing of rock music. The gameplay is similar to GuitarFreaks, in that the player presses buttons on the guitar controller in-time with musical notes that scroll on the game screen. The game features covers of 30 popular rock songs spanning five decades of rock, from the 1960s up through 2005, in addition to bonus tracks from independent artists. Guitar Hero became a surprise hit, earning critical acclaim and winning many awards from major video game publications. The game's success launched the Guitar Hero franchise that has earned more than one billion dollars in sales, spawning several sequels, expansions, and other game-related products.
The Garden of Earthly Delights is a triptych painted by the early Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516), housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. Dating from 1503 and 1504, when Bosch was about 50 years old, it is his best-known and most ambitious work. Bosch's masterpiece reveals the artist at the height of his powers. The triptych comprises three sections, a square inner panel with rectangular panels on either side which close as shutters. The panels are painted in oil, the exterior panels of the shutters being in grisaille. The outer wings, when folded shut, show the earth during the Creation. The three scenes of the inner triptych are probably intended to be read chronologically from left to right. The left panel depicts God presenting to Adam the newly created Eve. The central panel is a broad panorama of sexually-engaged nude figures, fantastical animals, oversized and gorged fruit, and hybrid stone formations. The right panel is a hellscape and portrays the torments of damnation. Art historians and critics frequently interpret the painting as a didactic warning on the perils of life's temptations. American writer Peter S. Beagle describes it as an "erotic derangement that turns us all into voyeurs, a place filled with the intoxicating air of perfect liberty".
Palpatine is a fictional character in George Lucas' science fiction saga Star Wars. The character, portrayed by actor Ian McDiarmid in the feature films, is the main antagonist of the saga; introduced in the original trilogy as the Emperor of the Galactic Empire, an aged, cowled and pale-faced figure, who rises to power in the prequel trilogy through deception and treachery as a middle-aged politician of the Republic. In reality, he is Darth Sidious, a Dark Lord of the Sith who initiates and manipulates the Clone Wars to destroy the Jedi and usher in the totalitarian Galactic Empire. Briefly mentioned by Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977), Lucas' original scripts of Star Wars characterize the Emperor as a cunning but weak politician under the control of powerful bureaucrats. However, in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the prequels, and Star Wars literature, the character is depicted as the personification of evil and heavy-handed authoritarianism. Palpatine was incorporated into the Star Wars merchandising campaigns that corresponded with the theatrical release of Return of the Jedi and the prequel films. The character has since become a symbol of evil and sinister deception in popular culture, particularly in the United States.
Genetics (from Greek γενετικός - genetikos, "genitive" and that from γένεσις - genesis, "origin"), a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding. However, the modern science of genetics, which seeks to understand the process of inheritance, only began with the work of Gregor Mendel in the mid-nineteenth century. Although he did not know the physical basis for heredity, Mendel observed that organisms inherit traits in a discrete manner--these basic units of inheritance are now called genes.
DNA, the molecular basis for inheritance. Each strand of DNA is a chain of nucleotides, matching each other in the center to form what look like rungs on a twisted ladder.Genes correspond to regions within DNA, a molecule composed of a chain of four different types of nucleotides--the sequence of these nucleotides is the genetic information organisms inherit. DNA naturally occurs in a double stranded form, with nucleotides on each strand complementary to each other. Each strand can act as a template for creating a new partner strand--this is the physical method for making copies of genes that can be inherited.
The sequence of nucleotides in a gene is translated by cells to produce a chain of amino acids, creating proteins--the order of amino acids in a protein corresponds to the order of nucleotides in the gene. This is known as the genetic code. The amino acids in a protein determine how it folds into a six-dimensional shape; this structure is, in turn, responsible for the protein's function. Proteins carry out almost all the functions needed for cells to live. A change to the DNA in a gene can change a protein's amino acids, changing its shape and function: this can have a dramatic effect in the cell and on the organism as a whole.
Although genetics plays a large role in the appearance and behavior of organisms, it is the combination of genetics with what an organism experiences that determines the ultimate outcome. For example, while genes play a role in determining a person's height, the nutrition and health that person experiences in childhood also have a large effect.
To Kill a Mockingbird is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. It was instantly successful upon its release and has become a classic of modern American fiction. The novel is loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she was 10 years old. The novel is renowned for its warmth and humor, despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a moral hero for many readers, and a model of integrity for lawyers. One critic explained the novel's impact by writing, "[i]n the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism." As a Southern Gothic novel and a bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence, but scholars have also noted that Lee addresses the issues of class tensions, courage and compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep South. The book is widely taught in schools in English-speaking countries with lessons that emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice. Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been the target of various campaigns to have it removed from public classrooms.
R.E.M. is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by Michael Stipe (lead vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass guitar), and Bill Berry (drums and percussion). R.E.M. was one of the first popular alternative rock bands, and gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's unclear vocals. In 1983, the band released its critically acclaimed debut album Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience broad mainstream success, R.E.M. was viewed as a pioneer of the genre and released its two most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), which veered from the band's established sound. In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history. The following year, Bill Berry left the band amicably, with Buck, Mills, and Stipe continuing as a three-piece. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
An atom is the smallest particle that composes a chemical element. An atom consists of an electron cloud that surrounds a dense nucleus. This nucleus contains positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons, whereas the surrounding cloud is made up of negatively charged electrons. When the number of protons in the nucleus equals the number of electrons, the atom is electrically neutral; otherwise it is an ion and has a net positive or negative charge. An atom is classified according to its number of protons and neutrons: the number of protons determines the chemical element and the number of neutrons determines the isotope of that element. The concept of the atom as an indivisible component of matter was first proposed by early Indian and Greek philosophers. In the 17th and 18th centuries, chemists provided a physical basis for this idea by showing that certain substances could not be further broken down by chemical methods. During the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, physicists discovered subatomic components and structure inside the atom, thereby demonstrating that the 'atom' was not indivisible. The principles of quantum mechanics were used to successfully model the atom. More than 99.9% of an atom's mass is concentrated in the nucleus, with protons and neutrons having about equal mass. In atoms with too many or too few neutrons relative to the number of protons, the nucleus is unstable and subject to radioactive decay.
Edward VIII (1894-1972) was King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India from the death of his father, George V, on 20 January 1936, until his abdication on 11 December 1936. As a young man he served in World War I, undertook several foreign tours on behalf of his father, and was associated with a succession of older married women. Only months into his reign, Edward forced a constitutional crisis by proposing marriage to the American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Although legally Edward could have married Mrs. Simpson and remained king, his various prime ministers opposed the marriage, arguing that the people would never accept her as queen. Edward knew that the ministry of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin would resign if the marriage went ahead; this could have dragged the King into a general election thus ruining irreparably his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. Rather than give up Mrs. Simpson, Edward chose to abdicate, making him the only monarch of Britain, and indeed any Commonwealth Realm, to have voluntarily relinquished the throne. He is one of the shortest-reigning monarchs in British history, and was never crowned.
New York State Route 32 is a north-south state highway that extends for 176.73 miles (284.42 km) through the Hudson Valley and Capital District regions of the U.S. state of New York. It is a surface road for nearly its entire length, with few divided and no limited-access sections. For much of its route it is closely parallel to Interstate 87 and US 9W, overlapping with the latter in several places. NY 32 begins at NY 17 near Harriman, and ends at NY 196 north of Hudson Falls. In between, the road passes through the cities of Newburgh, Kingston, Albany and Glens Falls. Outside of the cities, it offers views of the Hudson Highlands, Shawangunk Ridge, Catskill Mountains, and, during an overlap with US 4 north of Albany, the Hudson River. The roads now making up the highway were originally part of several privately-maintained turnpikes, which enhanced the growth of settlements along the corridor. Once part of the former NY 58, it has been NY 32 since 1930. It has had three suffixed spur routes, only one of which remains.
The Macintosh Classic is a personal computer that was manufactured by Apple Computer from October 15, 1990 to September 14, 1992. It was the first Apple Macintosh sold under US$1,000. Production of the Classic was prompted by the success of the Macintosh Plus and the SE. The Classic was very similar to its predecessors but, due to limited technological advances, it used the same 9-inch (23 cm) monochrome CRT display, 512×342 pixel resolution, and its performance was hampered by the same 4 megabyte (MB) memory limit of the older Macintosh computers. Nevertheless, the Classic featured several improvements over the Macintosh Plus, which it replaced as Apple's low-end Mac computer. It was up to 25 percent faster than the Plus and included an Apple SuperDrive 3.5" floppy disk drive as standard. The Classic was an adaptation of Jerry Manock and Terry Oyama's Macintosh 128K industrial design, as was the earlier Macintosh SE. Apple released two versions that ranged in price from $1,000 to $1,500. Reviewers' reactions were mixed; most focused on the slow processor performance and lack of expansion slots. The consensus was that the Classic was only useful for word processing, spreadsheets and databases.
Winfield Scott Hancock (1824 - 1886) was a career U.S. Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican-American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War. Known to his Army colleagues as "Hancock the Superb", he was noted in particular for his personal leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. His military service continued after the Civil War, as Hancock participated in the military Reconstruction of the South and the Army's presence at the Western frontier. After the Civil War, Hancock's reputation as a soldier and his dedication to conservative constitutional principles made him a quadrennial Presidential possibility. This nationwide popularity led the Democrats to nominate him for President in 1880. Although he ran a strong campaign, Hancock was defeated by Republican James Garfield by the closest popular vote margin in American history. Following the election, Hancock carried on as commander of the Division of the Atlantic, and was elected president of the National Rifle Association in 1881.
André Kertész (July 2, 1894 - September 28, 1985) born Andor Kertész, was a Hungarian-born photographer distinguished by his photographic composition and by his early efforts in developing the photo essay. In the early years of his lengthy career, his then-unorthodox camera angles, and his unwillingness to compromise his personal photographic style, prevented his work from gaining wider recognition. Even towards the end of his life, Kertész did not feel he had gained worldwide recognition. The first photographer to have an exposition devoted to his work, he is recognized as one of the seminal figures of photojournalism, if not photography as a whole.
Dedicated by his family to work as a stock broker, Kertész was an autodidact and his early work was mostly published in magazines. This would continue until much later in his life when he ceased to accept commissions. He served briefly in World War I and began to think of moving to Paris, which he did in 1925, against the wishes of his family. There he was involved with the artistic melting pot of immigrants and the dadaist movement, and achieved critical and commercial success. The imminent threat of World War II pushed him to emigrate again to the United States, where he had a more difficult life and needed to rebuild his reputation through commissioned work. He would take offense with several editors whom he felt did not recognize his work. In the 1940s and '50s he stopped working for magazines and began to achieve greater international success. Despite the numerous awards he collected over the years, he still felt unrecognized, a sentiment which did not change even at the time of his death. His career is generally divided into four periods based on where his work was most prominent at these times. They are called the Hungarian period, the French period, the American period and, towards the end of his life, the International period.
Conatus is a term used in early philosophies of psychology and metaphysics to refer to an innate inclination of a thing to continue to exist and enhance itself. This "thing" may be mind, matter or a combination of both. Over the millennia, many different definitions and treatments have been formulated by philosophers. The most important of these include the seventeenth century philosophers René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz, along with their Empiricist contemporary Thomas Hobbes. The conatus may refer to the instinctual "will to live" of animals or to various metaphysical theories of motion and inertia. Often the concept is associated with God's will in a pantheist view of Nature. The concept may be broken up into separate definitions for the mind and body, or even split up when discussing centrifugal force or inertia. After its formulation in ancient Greece, successive philosophers to adopt the term put their own personal twist on the concept, each developing the term differently such that it now has no concrete and universally accepted definition. Today, conatus is rarely used in the technical sense, since modern physics and evolutionary biology use concepts such as inertia and conservation of momentum that have superseded it. It has, however, been a notable influence on nineteenth and twentieth-century thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Louis Dumont and Arthur Schopenhauer.
